As of 2026, almost 20 U.S.-based artificial intelligence startups had each raised upwards of $100 million. To put this impressive funding in context, it underscores the rapid growth and intense investor interest within the sector. Amongst these last batch of companies, a few particularly stark funding milestones jump out, highlighting the growing valuation and promise of these innovative businesses.
Simile, an up and coming player in the AI landscape, just announced a $100 million Series A round led by Index Ventures. This funding represents a significant achievement for the company. It will move the needle toward pushing more large-scale expansion of operations and more rapid technological improvements.
In March, Fundamental grabbed attention when it announced its stunning $255 million Series A round — landing at a valuation of $1.4 billion. This record-breaking raise is a testament to the faith investors are clearly placing in Fundamental’s vision and execution.
Runway, another leader of the industry, recently closed a whopping Series E round of $315 million. This influx of cash increased its valuation to a jaw-dropping $5.3 billion. With this funding, Runway is now positioned to not just continue innovating but firmly establish their place in the increasingly competitive AI market.
Deepgram in turn took a huge step forward of its own by closing a $130 million Series C round, lifting its valuation to $4.48 billion. The sizeable investment paints a picture of the increasing demand for superior, enterprise-level speech recognition technologies.
Along with Lilium, Flapping Airplanes (a.k.a. Google Ventures, Sequoia, and Index Ventures) are just some of the investors supporting this dynamic new venture. This funding means the startup is now better positioned to create groundbreaking solutions in the AI aviation space.
In an unprecedented outcome, Humans managed to pull in a shocking $480 million in seed capital. High-profile investors including Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and GV supported this remarkable company. This commitment exemplifies the broader trend of high-profile endorsements sweeping through the AI industry.
Anthropic recently completed a stunning $30 billion Series G funding round. Even more stunning, this strategic investment brings the AI research lab to an amazing $380 billion. This round is a great illustration of the level of ambition and possibility that exists in the AI research space right now.
ElevenLabs creamed the market with a $500 million Series D round, giving it a whopping $11 billion valuation. At the same time, Decagon closed $250 million of its Series D round at a reported $4.5 billion valuation for the company.
PaleBlueDot AI further demonstrated this promise with its own $150 million Series B round, reaching a $1 billion valuation. Baseten then went step further with a $300 million Series E round at a $5 billion valuation.
OpenEvidence revealed a $250 million Series D round, increasing its valuation to $12 billion. Arena completed its fundraising efforts with a $150 million Series A round, although there was some discrepancy regarding its valuation, reported as either $1.7 billion or $1.25 billion.
Investor confidence is evident in these major funding rounds. They laud the encouraging home-grown innovations coming out of the U.S. AI sector. As these companies continue to grow and evolve, their contributions are likely to shape the future landscape of artificial intelligence.